ShareThisWASHINGTON - Graceland will help the Newseum look at Elvis Presley as a groundbreaking media phenomenon that changed the way celebrity is covered.
Some of the artifacts of his life to be displayed starting March 12 have never before been made public, even at Graceland, according to exhibit curator Cathy Trost. They include a leather Harley Davidson jacket and an original acetate recording of Presley's first, 1954 appearance on "The Louisiana Hayride" radio show.
It's a big year for Elvis in the nation's capital. Already, to commemorate his 75th birthday year, The National Archives has showcased his quixotic 1970 visit to Richard Nixon's Oval Office. The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery is displaying "One Life: Echoes of Elvis" through Aug. 22 and screened "Viva Las Vegas" late last month. In October, the gallery will exhibit the traveling "Elvis at 21: Photographs of Alfred Wertheimer" that's now in Los Angeles.
Elvis Presley Enterprises cooperated in the Newseum venture and has sent up such items as the original keys to Graceland and The King's first Grammy Award, from 1968, for the album "How Great Thou Art." Of course, there will be a costume cape and belt.
"It really gave us a chance and an opportunity to explore how Elvis really impacted American pop culture and how the media not only helped create Elvis but also, kind of in the beginning, helped spur all the controversy," said Graceland's director of archives Angie Marchese.
"One of the cool things that is going to be part of the Newseum exhibit is the jacket that Elvis was wearing when he met Nixon," said Marchese, who started out as a Graceland summer tour guide in high school. "When I brought the artifacts up there last (month), when I landed in Washington, it kind of ran through my mind that this jacket has not been here since 1970 when Elvis wore it. It was kind of one of those surreal moments."
Airport Transportation Security Administration agents needed a second look at Elvis' gold belt worn at the same White House meeting because, "when you send it through the x-ray, it did not look like a belt," Marchese said.
The Newseum, on Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and the White House, is the country's premier museum showcasing the history of the news business and seminal news events. It includes television studios, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs and iconic items showing technical breakthroughs in news coverage, including communications satellites and the antennae mast from atop the World Trade Center's north tower.
According to Kenneth A. Paulson, the Newseum's president and CEO, the genesis of the idea of an Elvis exhibit came from Memphis Commercial Appeal editor Chris Peck.
"Chris Peck's role in this exhibit was essentially that of a matchmaker," Paulson said last week. "He recognized the potential synergy between Graceland and the Newseum and he put us together, and it has turned out to be a very fruitful partnership."
The Commercial Appeal's library staff also helped provide archival material for the Newseum exhibit, Trost said.
Peck said efforts to build a stronger relationship between the newspaper and Graceland started with brainstorming last summer, then led to Peck's call to Paulson. They talked about the news media's role in building the myth and image of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, and then in helping in the destruction of the image with criticism of his comeback and his handling of "various demons," Peck said.
"Sometimes it's easy to dismiss or diminish the importance of a regional newspaper in a hyperactive media world, but in fact the Elvis exhibit at the Newseum is a great example of the old saw that newspapers are the first rough draft of history," said Peck. "Before Elvis was known anywhere else, he was known in Memphis because of The Commercial Appeal and the Press-Scimitar."
The Commercial Appeal also is working with Graceland on a book that will look at Elvis in the cultural milieu of Memphis, Peck said. The book is expected out by the end of the year.
At the Newseum, "Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking Newsmaking Story" will run through Feb. 14, 2011.
E-mail Bartholomew Sullivan at sullivanb(at)shns.com.
INFO BOX
-- Newseum promotional video of "Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story" -- http://www.newseum.org/exhibits_th/elvis/
-- Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: "One Life: Echoes of Elvis" --http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/exhelvis.html
-- The National Archives: "When Nixon Met Elvis." -- http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/nixon-met-elvis/
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
